Bulgaria approves accession protocols for Sweden & Finland's NATO membership: Report

In a significant development, the Bulgarian parliament approved the accession protocols required for Sweden and Finland to formally join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). On Wednesday, July 13, all parliamentary parties supported the move, with the exception of the pro-Russian nationalist 'Vazrazhdane (Revival)' party. In addition, a parliamentarian from the 'Change Continues' unexpectedly refrained from supporting the move given that the party supports NATO expansion. According to reports, Teodora Genchovska, the interior minister, and Dragomir Zakov, the defence minister, did not attend the debates before the vote in the parliament, since the expelled Council of Ministers was meeting at the same time.

According to MP Blagovest Belev of the ‘Change Continues’ party, Finland and Sweden will contribute immensely to the security of Europe, with their economic might, technological prowess, and human potential. "With their acceptance, the Baltic Sea becomes an internal sea of the alliance,” he added, Euractiv reported. Meanwhile, Tsoncho Ganev, a member of the defiant "Vazrazhdane" party, claimed that the war in Ukraine was triggered by NATO's expansion and that Finland and Sweden's accession "artificially stoked the conflict." “NATO surrounded the Russian Federation from all sides. What should we expect?” he asked. 

NATO formally invites Finland and Sweden to join alliance

Notably, Finland and Sweden officially received invitations to join the intergovernmental alliance at the NATO summit in Madrid at the end of June after they submitted their membership applications on May 18. Now, the two Nordic nations must get the approval of all member countries before the final accession to the alliance. Earlier on July 12, US President Joe Biden also submitted protocols to Senate on the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO and urged the upper chamber of Congress for approval. 

About NATO

It should be mentioned here that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a 30-member intergovernmental military alliance. The organisation was established in the aftermath of World War II to implement the North Atlantic Treaty, which was signed on April 4, 1949. The alliance is a collective security arrangement in which NATO's independent member states commit to defending each other in the event of an external attack. Since the end of the Cold War, the alliance has been involved in military operations in the Balkans, the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa, among other places.

Image: AP